About George McKay Pugmire

George McKay Pugmire (1846 - 1910), son of Jonathan Pugmire (1823 - 1880) and Elizabeth McKay (1822 - 1887), was born 31 March 1846 at Montrose, Lee County, Illinois. He died at the age of 63 on 2 March 1910 at Saint Charles, Bear Lake County, Idaho, and is buried at Saint Charles Cemetery. He married Maria Adelia Young (1848 - 1920), daughter of William Goodall Young (1827 - 1894) and Adelia Clark (1826 - 1906).

Children of George and Maria Pugmire

George Young Pugmire (1866 - 1927)

Jonathan Young Pugmire (1868 - 1943)

Brigham Young Pugmire (1870 - 1945)

Seraph Young Pugmire (1872 - 1903)

Leon Young Pugmire (1884 - 1961)

Della Young Pugmire (1893 - 1979)

Mariam "Mamie" Young Pugmire (1875 - 1934)

Archie Young Pugmire

Biographical Sketch

George was the first child born to Jonathan Pugmire, Jr. and Elizabeth McKay just across the river from Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois. His parents, both converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), had been in America only two years. Due to ongoing persecution against Mormons, they were forced to leave the Nauvoo area. Three weeks after George was born, his family began the trek across Iowa to Winter Quarters, near present-day Omaha. The day after their arrival, George's father was called away with the Mormon Battalion. Elizabeth had to build her own shelter for herself and her newborn. In spite of serious illnesses, both survived the winter.

George was about sixteen months old when his father returned to Winter Quarters and the family began making preparations for the move to Utah. Traveling with the Heber C. Kimball Company, the family arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on 24 September 1848. At age two-and-a-half, George became a Utah pioneer, along with the brother who had been born on the way.

He grew up in the 7th Ward area of Salt Lake City. In 1864, George's father responded to a call to settle in the Bear Lake Valley. The area was at that time part of Utah, but later boundary changes placed it in Idaho. At age eighteen, George and his family became some of the first settlers of St. Charles, Bear Lake, Idaho. It was there that he met and married Maria Adelia Young, also an early settler. George and Maria were married on 6 March 1866 at St. Charles by President Charles C. Rich.

St. Charles was home to George and Maria for the remainder of their lives and all nine of their children were born there. George was a farmer and a rancher. In 1888 he obtained a land patent for 400 acres in Caribou County through the Desert Land Act. That land was later owned by the Bear Lake Grazing Association, a cooperative of about 54 area ranchers. George was one of them. In 1908, he also obtained a 100 acre homestead in Bear Lake County.

His tombstone in the St. Charles Cemetery is inscribed, "Ye visited the sick and comforted them."